U.S. Sentences Crypto Scam Launderers in Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Network

U.S. prosecutors and courts advanced multiple cases tied to large-scale cryptocurrency fraud and laundering operations that targeted American victims through fake trading platforms and social-engineering lures. In one California case, Jingliang Su, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 46 months in prison after admitting he helped launder more than $36.9 million stolen from 174 victims by a scam network operating from Cambodia; the court also ordered more than $26.8 million in restitution. Authorities said the fraud used unsolicited messages, calls, texts, dating platforms, and bogus crypto-investment websites to persuade victims to transfer funds, which were then routed through U.S. shell companies, bank accounts, Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, and Tether (USDT) wallets controlled abroad.

In a related prosecution, Daren Li, a dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering after authorities said he and co-conspirators moved more than $73 million in victim proceeds through shell companies, U.S. financial accounts, wire transfers, and conversion into USDT; he was later sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. The cases form part of a broader Justice Department crackdown on transnational crypto-enabled investment scams and money-laundering networks, with officials reporting that multiple co-conspirators have pleaded guilty and that the U.S. Secret Service played a central investigative role.